The League of Conservation Voters, and its affiliate Washington Conservation Voters, poured resources into the 2012 election of Gov. Jay Inslee. They are expected to go all-out to get Inslee reelected this fall.

In announcing the Murray endorsement, LCV and Sierra Club spoke in political boilerplate — as has become the wont of such groups. “She works hard to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels and invest in a clean energy economy that creates good playing jobs in Washington and across the country,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld of the LCV Action Fund.

Actually, the description better fits Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who has worked years to create, rescue and enshrine tax credits for wind energy, while thwarting efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

“We are confident that she (Murray) will continue work to protect our families’ health, air and water and build a clean economy that works in Washington,” added Ken Gersten, Sierra Club of Washington political chair.

The endorsement completely ignored what Murray HAS done for the environment of her home state.

She was an architect of the 106,577 acres Wild Sky Wilderness in eastern Snohomish County. She worked across party lines, along with GOP cosponsor Rep. Dave Reichert, to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and put the Middle Fork-Snoqualmie River under protection of the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

She helped persuade the Clinton administration to designate a Hanford Reach National Monument along the lone stretch of Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam that has not been impounded in a reservoir. Murray and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., want to protect more wild lands and river on the Olympic Peninsula.

Such is what conservation politics used to be in Washington state. Such politics used to be — still is at times — bipartisan.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Weekend visitors fish on the Taylor River, which connects to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, Saturday Jun 21, 2013. Pending legislation is hoping add the Middle Fork to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area in the Cascade Mountain Range. less

Weekend visitors fish on the Taylor River, which connects to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, Saturday Jun 21, 2013. Pending legislation is hoping add the Middle Fork to the protected Alpine Wilderness ... more

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Proposed legislation would add the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the protected Alpine Wilderness Lakes area, Saturday Jun 21, 2013.

Photo: SY BEAN / SEATTLEPI.COM

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Two big environmental groups back Sen. Murray's reelection: In lockstep with the Democrats?

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Republican Sen. Dan Evans, Democratic Rep. Mike Lowry and GOP Rep. Sid Morrison were key collaborators on a million-acre Washington wilderness bill. Future GOP Attorney General (and Inslee opponent in 2012) Rob McKenna had his political baptism in the effort to preserve King County farmland. Murray and Reichert fought tenaciously for the Alpine Lakes-Middle Fork legislation.

Yet, the greens have moved left: The Sierra Club sent placard-carrying demonstrators downtown to endorse Occupy Seattle. Its local chapter endorsed socialist Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant in last November’s election. Its national leaders have been arrested in protests at the Obama White House.

Shutting down the fossil fuel industry has become the primary goal. The days of endorsing a centrist, pro-wilderness Republican — or even a Seattle City Council candidate concerned about family wage refinery jobs — are long gone. A candidate like Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Bryant, an outdoor activist and Theodore Roosevelt fan, need not apply.

It’s no surprise, given that Republican leaders in Congress are in bed with Big Oil and Big Coal and fighting against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as it seeks to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning power plants. Sen. John McCain began the 2008 presidential campaign with Washington and Oregon visits keyed to climate change. He came out of the campaign with crowds cheering Sarah Palin and chanting “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

The polarization isn’t healthy. But it’s the product of a divided nation.

“I could not be more thrilled to be recognized by these premier environmental advocacy organizations,” said Murray in getting the LCV and Sierra Club endorsements.